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IT? 

The SECRET 
of BEAUTY 
and CHARM 



BOOK ONE 

Foreword 

Taking Inventory of Ourselves 








The SECRET 
of BEAUTY 
and CHARM 



BOOK ONE 


Foreword 

Taking Inventory of Ourselves 


INDEPENDENT CORPORATION 
New York 








"ftA 

The Secret of Beauty and Charm 

Contents 

BOOK I 

Foreword. Taking Inventory of Ourselves 

Beauty and Charm defined. Any woman has the root 
from which the tree will grow. Beauty. Charm. As 
to your health. As to your body. As to your clothes. 
Charm plus appearance equals personality. Education 
not enough. Money will not do it. A contrast. 

BOOK II 

The Relation of Health to Beauty 

Health as it affects your looks. Constipation first 
consideration. The food you eat and its effect. Grace 
through exercise—a daily series. How and when to 
bathe. Rest as a beautifier. Enough air while you 
sleep. Hints for nervousness. Getting rid of head¬ 
ache. Indigestion. Care of eyes and teeth. A dietary 
for the thin. Safe and sane methods to reduce your 
weight. Last thoughts before going to sleep. In¬ 
somnia. 

BOOK III 
The Body Beautiful 

Keeping your skin beautiful. Treating the common¬ 
est blemishes. Proper way to cleanse your face. Soap, 

Copyright, 1923, independent Corporation 

©C1A699971 

... : FEB23*23 





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Book One Page Three 

creams and tonics. How to choose your powder and 
how to apply it. The rouge question. Perfumes. 
Massage, face moulding, muscle “lifting,” etc. How 
to have a beautiful mouth. Developing beautiful hands 
and caring for the nails. How to beautify your arms. 
Treatment for the feet. 

BOOK IV 

Improving Your Hair 

The relation to your hair of the general condition 
of your health. The best shampoo and how to use it. 
Local treatment for hair and scalp. The methods of 
effective scalp massage. How to curl your hair. The 
permanent wave—“water waving.” Superfluous hair. 
Hair dyeing. The principles that govern effective hair 
arrangement. Bobbed hair. Ten “Do’s” and “Don’ts” 
on hair arrangement. 

BOOK V 

How to Secure Charm in Dress 

How to plan your clothes. Underwear. The cor¬ 
set problem. Selecting stockings and shoes. “Line” 
in dress. Choosing and combining colors best suited 
to you. A word about fabrics. Choosing your clothes 
for the purpose they are to serve. What about evening 
clothes. Do you know how to select a hat? Gloves, 
furs and jewelry. The principles of charm in dress 
and how you may express yourself, through your 
clothes. 



Page Four 


Book One 


BOOK VI 

How to Acquire Charm 

What mental charm is. How to wake up your mind 
if it has gone to sleep. How to cultivate a general 
interest in life and people. Learning to use a Public 
Library. How to learn what you prefer in read¬ 
ing. Cultivate a broader imagination by making 
a note on what you have seen. Your home “ready 
reference.” Do you like good music? How to under¬ 
stand it. How to appreciate pictures. Nature will 
teach you a lot about charm. The charming way to 
live in the out-of-doors. Another hint about “human 
nature.” Your charm grows from within. Your 
manner toward men friends. How to sit at a table. 
Ordering from the menu. Voice culture. Increasing 
your vocabulary. 

BOOK VII 

Expressing Your Charm 

The causes of your difficulty in talking and writing, 
and how to overcome them. Telling a story so that 
people will like to hear it. The art of discussion. 
How about slang? Affectations or striving for effect; 
is it worth while? How to write a charming letter. 
Your handwriting. Easy relations with the people you 
meet. Becoming a charming housewife. Running the 
house instead of allowing it to run you. Making home 
a place of interest as well as a place of peace. Your 
manner toward your fellow workmen. Being charm- 



Book One 


Page Five 


ing in business or professional life. Are you afraid 
of your employer? Choosing a job where you will 
like to work. How and when to ask for a raise. Are 
you self-conscious with the men in your office? Mak¬ 
ing contracts in business and social life. How to work 
in organizations, as a member of the rank and file, as 
a leader. How to learn to conduct a meeting and to 
lead in group action. How to make your connection 
with political life. How to be human. How to hold 
a husband. A few “don’ts.” 

BOOK VIII 

101 Beauty and Health Secrets 

How to strengthen spiritual charm with physical 
beauty.* Canker sore, chafe, cold sores, coated tongue, 
constipation, liquid petroleum, hangnail, hiccough, 
hoarseness, indigestion, ingrowing nails, sleeplessness, 
itch, liver spots. Acne, its causes and cure. Enlarged 
pores, oily skin, blackheads, pimples, red nose, the use 
of yeast, anemia, hyperacidity, backache, boils, bad 
breath, bunions, nail biting, diets for taking off weight 
and putting on flesh, perspiration, pyorrhea, sallow 
complexion, that tired feeling, toothache, warts, oil 
treatment for the hands, a cream for dry skin, grease¬ 
less cream before powdering, bleaching off the sum¬ 
mer's tan, a hair tonic that will nourish the scalp. The 
perfect way to rinse the hair. Exercise and tonic for 
a thin neck. A safe way to reduce double chin. How 
to manicure the nails. The correct care of the feet. 



Page Six 


Book One 


A skin astringent for wrinkles. The best cleansing 
cream. A safe bleach for a sensitive skin. The beauty 
secret of a famous singer. Making your own clay 
masks. A formula for dull hair. Care of the eyes. 
Superfluous hair. A bath for obesity. Body odors. 
Preventing wrinkles at the corners of the eyes. A 
good nail powder. How to take the ridges from your 
nails. Cucumber cold cream for softening and bleach¬ 
ing. 



THE SECRET OF BEAUTY AND 
CHARM 

Introduction 


Of course you want to be charming! 

You wouldn’t be natural if you didn’t. 

Every woman wishes she were beautiful. No matter 
what else she has, she’d prefer to have beauty, too. 

The thing that many do not know is that so much 
can be done after we make up our minds to try. 

You can have a clearer skin. 

You can have brighter eyes. 

You can reduce your weight, and you can make 
your figure what you want it to be. Put yourself in 
my hands. We shall see what it is you lack. We’ll 
go right to the source of the trouble. A little help 
from you and we’ll overcome it. I am only a little 
book. You must do the acting. I’ll do the directing. 

You do not have to be the ugly duckling in any 
crowd. 

How many times have you seen a girl with features 
far from perfect get more attention than her beautiful 
sister ? 

That’s charm and personality* my dear, and they can 
he acquired. 

Sometimes it’s poor health which makes us timid 
and backward. In that case we are going to bathe 
properly, eat properly, learn how to breathe and do 
some light exercises. That sounds like a lot to do, 


Page Eight 


Book One 


doesn’t it? But you’ll begin to feel better almost 
at once. 

We’re beginning with good health. It’s so impor¬ 
tant. We can’t be interested in anything when we 
do not feel well. 

Maybe we haven’t mixed with the outside world very 
much. Maybe we haven’t traveled many miles from 
home. Very well, then, we’ll bring the world right 
inside our own rooms and get acquainted with it. 

I want these lessons to give you that polish without 
the experience. Work with me and you shall see. 

You probably have a great many things right inside 
yourself. We’re going to try to help you discover 
them and show you how to make the most of what 
you already have. Do not expect to change your 
features. The color of your eyes and hair should 
be just as the Divine Architect planned them. No art 
has ever been able to outdo nature. Your hair was 
planned to match the tints in your eyes and skin. 
There is no discord in nature. If you change the color 
of your hair you may look more striking, but everyone 
will sense something artificial. We don’t want to be 
a beautiful painting, we want to be warm and alive.. 

You may have a “pug” nose, but if the skin which 
covers it is thin and pink it’ll be pretty. 

Do not be satisfied with large pores. They thicken 
the skin so that the color underneath cannot show 
through. Unless one has very thick blood, wherever 
you see coarse pores you’ll find sallowness. 

Is your hai*- stringy or oily or too dry? Does it 



Book One 


Page Nine 


shine in the light or does it look dull like dried leaves? 

Turn the mirror on your eyes. Are the lids red? 
Are your eyelashes thin ? Do you see yellowness on 
the socket or eyeball ? Are they bright ? 

It is not advisable to interfere with nature. If you 
will make the most of what she gave you, it won’t be 
necessary. 

Do not allow anything to make you weaken, once 
you have started. 

Do not tell anyone about what you have decided to 
do if you think they would tease you or laugh. 

Console yourself that there are few, if any, women 
who do not have to pay any attention to their looks. 
On the other hand, there are many who are positively 
plain who might become actually pretty, if they 
knew how. 

Stop worrying about how you look. If nobody 
seems to notice you as you go and come, clench your 
fist a little and say ‘Til show you.” Then relax and 
smile. You are started. After you have resolved to 
start you are a long way on the road toward greater 
joy in living, more self confidence, popularity and 
friends. Before we come to the lessons let us define 
the thing we are after. We want to know just what 
we are working for and then let nothing stand in the 
way of our accomplishing it. 

1. Beauty 

Beauty is first of all a matter of color. That is why 
the photographs of so many fail to “do them justice” 




Page Ten 


Book One 


as the expression goes. There are no homely people 
with good complexions. 

The next thing is contour. The rose is not prettier 
because it is round than the lily with its pointed petals. 
The rounded chin is as pretty as the pointed one, but 
whatever its shape, it must not have superfluous flesh 
on it—that’s the thing which destroys contour. 

The nose pointing toward heaven holds its own 
every day with the perfectly straight one. It’s the 
color and texture of the skin on the nose more than 
the shape that counts for beauty. 

Yours may be red and oily now, but it can, with a 
little patience on your part, be made as it was intended 
you should have it had you not eaten so freely of rich 
foods or neglected it in some other way which I shall 
tell you about later. 

But to go back to color. 

Bad complexions are an indication of something 
wrong on the inside, even though you may not suspect 
what it is. Bad complexions are surface warnings. 
They’re Nature’s danger signals. They show their 
owner that he is not treating himself fairly a long time 
before some organic disorder makes itself known. 
Some part of the body is lazy, needs waking up and 
coaxing back. We shall study just what it is and 
design an exercise to make the blood flow more freely 
through the lazy, sluggish parts. 

Thin and oily hair won’t look lovely until you get 
after it with a little vim and determination. Begin on 
it now. Make it shiny with life. Fluff it up and make 



Book One 


Page Eleven 


it work for you in your quest for beauty. You may 
be dressing an already nice head of hair unbecomingly. 
Are you still wearing a knot? Don’t! 

If you slouch along or walk like a camel, nothing 
you put on is going to look snappy. You’ve got to 
learn to carry yourself right. A shoulder exercise 
and one to strengthen the muscles of your abdomen 
will do wonders, and your food will have a chance to 
nourish your body instead of just crowding through 
the intestines half digested. 

Slouching along is not graceful. It will allow your 
spine to grow old, and it’s the spine which makes old 
age. Don’t give it a start while you’re still young. 
You could probably improve your attractiveness over 
night if you knew how to select clothes which look 
right on you. 

Is your waistline too high or too low? Do the lines 
of your dress make you look symmetrical, or do your 
clothes merely serve to cover you? Are you dressing 
wide hips as only slim ones should be clad, and what 
about your neck line? Does it frame your face be¬ 
comingly, or does it make your neck look angular or 
too short? Do you wear a hat that looks like it had 
lighted there as it flew by and had not yet fixed itself 
to stay? 

It isn’t so likely that you are actually homely as that 
you wear clothes which were never intended for your 
type. Study yourself. Look around you. Do you 
realize just what it is that keeps you from being attrac¬ 
tive? When I show you what each figure should wear 



Page Twelve 


Book One 


maybe it’ll simplify things for you. We must go right 
to the bottom before we can start to work back. 

There are color combinations which will bring out 
the tints in your eyes, hair and complexion. When 
we have mastered color and line we will become 
attractive in very simple and inexpensive clothes. We 
do not want to spend more money on clothes, but to 
get the most out of the money we are already spending. 

Alas, if you have allowed yourself to get fat, you’ll 
have to use a little more will power and give up so 
much sugar and starch until you’re more satisfied with 
yourself. You do not need to starve, nor is it neces¬ 
sary to stop altogether, eating the things you like. 
Only eat less of them and, maybe, in different com¬ 
binations. 

The very first thing to do is to take stock of your¬ 
self. Find out just what is wrong. Then do not rest 
contented until you have overcome it. The will power 
you use in this direction will be good for getting over 
outside business difficulties, too. 

If you can, take a good look at yourself before a 
long mirror, preferably with no clothes on. Make an 
actual list of the things you do not like. 

Next, go to the window with a hand glass and study 
your face. Do not be too kind or too critical. 
Do not have any feeling whatever, except that there is 
a job to do and before you could tackle it you wanted 
to learn just what was needed. 

The more slowly and calmly you go about it, once 
you’ve undertaken it, the surer will be the results. 



Book One 


Page Thirteen 


A spasmodic attempt for a week will not undo what 
you have been years in acquiring. You can’t correct 
the things about yourself you hate so quickly, unless it 
was only your clothes which were unattractive. 

What you see in the mirror that you do not like has 
probably existed for years. 

It will take steady and systematic treatment to 
change it back to beauty. 

While those defects were years in the forming, 
Nature will be kinder to you than you were to her, and 
not require you to put in the same length of time cor¬ 
recting them. 

A correct diet, a little daily care of the skin, your 
regular exercises to fit your particular case, and soon 
you’ll see brighter eyes, a clearer skin, and best of all, 
you'll feel better. 

Physical beauty is impossible without vitality. For 
that reason, we have started our discussion with how 
to feel better. 

Good circulation and muscular control are the index 
to health. Whatever effort it causes, you will be repaid 
a thousand times in the sparkle of your eyes, the color 
in your cheek, the whole tint and texture of your skin 
—and in your manner of moving and talking. 

You will want to establish a daily schedule to pro¬ 
vide the time which will fit in the best with the other 
things you must do. The habit will become as fixed 
as meal time and almost as pleasant. 

The business woman will be able to spare only a 
limited time each day. but if she is persistent, there is 



Page Fourteen 


Book One 


not any reason for her not achieving the same results 
as though she stayed at home. System and regularity 
with the utmost cleanliness are what she wants. 

The tendency of the average woman is to attempt to 
conceal by cosmetics what she has done through 
neglect. 

Cosmetics have their place, but they look better on 
a clear skin than on a muddy one. Even art is more 
friendly to a well-cared-for skin. 

In this course of lessons I will tell you how to select 
your clothes to fit your type. Whether you are long 
or short, wide or thin, a definite style has been worked 
out just for you. No matter what your type, just so 
you express it. The thing for you to do is to get to 
work finding out what is wrong and decide to correct 
it. Your part is the deciding to do it. Mine will be 
to show you how. 


2. Charm 

The woman of charm meets strangers with an easy, 
graceful manner. She makeis everybody with her 
“at home,” that is, she makes them feel comfortable 
and understood. She is interested in other people as 
much as in herself. She never neglects her personal 
appearance, she is dainty and well groomed. 

Charm is not the outgrowth of beauty. Almost the 
opposite is true. You may be beautiful and yet not be 
at all charming. You wouldn’t call the beautiful girl 
charming who selfishly asked for her own way in 
everything, would you? No, my dear, unselfishness 



Book One 


Page Fifteen 


comes well up in the list of “don’ts” if you would be 
charming. 

It has been defined as a vague and “subtle” thing. 
Look around you at the women who you think are 
charming. Can’t you put into words what it is about 
them you like? If we study this together I believe we 
can make it plain as day with just telling you things 
you already knew and didn’t think to put into effect. 
That’s just it, you didn’t think. Charming people do. 

Almost any physical irregularity, whatever it may 
be, is likely to be lost sight of, if you are charming. 

This, then, will be the reward for our efforts, the 
thing we aim for. 

If you are already beautiful, so much the better, 
but be careful. The naturally beautiful woman has 
to strangle her vanity or she’ll be giving more time 
to pleasing the eye than the mind. It is the mind 
which holds our friends after we first attract and 
please their eyes. 

There is no person in the world but would tire of 
looking at a beautiful Dresden doll which could not 
think and feel and respond. 

Ah, my dear, beauty of mind knows no dread of 
wrinkles. 

The girl without striking good looks or no good 
looks at all can learn to bring out all her best points 
and use them to her advantage. 

If she has but little time or limited education, with 
the daily necessity for earning her living, she, more 
than anyone else, needs to be charming, because it is 



Page Sixteen 


Book One 


the best weapon with which she may conquer every¬ 
thing else. 

The Divine Sarah Bernhardt certainly had not the 
classical face of a Madonna or the chiseled features 
of a sculptor’s model, but she swept the world to her 
feet with charm and personality. She had warmth 
and gentleness. She loved much because she under¬ 
stood other people. Her quick, sympathetic interest 
in those around her taught her more about humanity 
than she could have learned from a million books. 
The characters she patterned her parts after spoke 
and did the things she knew real live people spoke 
and did. Her success grew from her courage to make 
the most of her almost hopeless ugliness, and her love 
of others instead of herself. 

We shall probably not attain the charm of Bern¬ 
hardt; it will not be necessary for the parts we shall 
play; but we can, just as she did, make people feel us 
when we enter a room and be sorry when we have 
gone. 

Many of us have what we are pleased to call “tem¬ 
perament,” which might more correctly be spelled with 
six letters of the word. It is supposed to denote a 
certain right to walk over other people without 
apology. 

My dear, if you have temperament of that variety, 
you’ll never be charming nor popular, and you’ll grow 
old unloved. The lines in your face will not be the 
pleasant ones which come from smiling or cheerful¬ 
ness. 



Book One 


Page Seventeen 


Everybody has temperament, strictly speaking. 
There are four distinct kinds of people and many 
combinations of the four. The first, sanguine, or 
warm, impressionable and changeable; the second, 
phlegmatic, or quiet, slow and persistent; the third, 
choleric, or energetic and predominately objective, and 
fourth, the melancholic, or sentimental, with a ten¬ 
dency toward excesses. 

The better balance you can strike between the four 
the greater will be your charm, for too much of any one 
of the four is nothing but plain selfishness, the greatest 
destroyer of charm. All emotional tendencies should 
be under control to possess any value. 

You may be a romanticist, extravagantly ideal, not 
always entirely rational, imaginative, fanciful, vision¬ 
ary and yes, maybe not strictly truthful. You will 
want to give these tendencies some thought and modify 
them. 

The idealist is not always welcome everywhere in 
this prosaic world. The imaginative principle and the 
endeavor to obtain perfection is not quickly grasped by 
many, and the overzealous idealist with his concep¬ 
tions beyond realization will please remember that 
ideals are more or less a mood anyway, and we had 
better know what humor our listeners are in before 
we attempt to raise them to a seventh heaven by our 
visions of perfection; in short, don’t be a bore. 

You want to increase your vocabulary? Well and 
good. Did you understand the differences between 
these four types of temperament? Begin today. Get 



Page Eighteen 


Book One 


you a good dictionary and let no chance get by to look 
up any new word. Learn what it means in the simplest 
language. If you do that you will be able to tell about 
these four types of temperament to your friends, and 
thereby have an extra subject of conversation instead 
of the commonplaces you talk about every day. 

You can acquire an easy manner with strangers and 
fall into natural conversation without feeling stiff and 
awkward. 

• You can express your personality in your clothes, 
and you can have a clearer complexion and brighter 
eyes. 

The task you go to from day to day can become 
lighter because you can become physically fit and, last 
of all, when the day comes to make a home for the 
man of your choice, you will know how to keep him 
happy and contented. 

The tone of your voice and the way you express 
yourself are a large part of charm. If you talk with 
a nasal twang you will not be heard pleasantly until 
others have become accustomed to your voice, and 
then only if you have something to say which they 
want to hear. The low pitched voice, well modulated 
and controlled, is pleasant, no matter what it is saying. 
We shall take up this point, too, and see if a harsh or 
unpleasant voice cannot be made nicer and more sooth¬ 
ing in tone. 

You have seen by now that “charm” can be defined, 
that it is really culture and self-discipline. It is being 
‘One's self in the highest sense of the word. 



Book One 


Page Nineteen 


As to Your Health. 

A highly nervous state that causes you to pat your 
foot, drum your fingers, fidget about in your chair, or 
make you snappy and cross will go a long way to 
spoil your charm. If you say sharp things instead of 
pleasant ones, the cause may be laid to your health, 
but often it is the wish to be “smart.” It’s an old 
saying and a true one, that “vinegar never catches flies,” 
so if you have that habit, stop it. 

These are only a few of the common human failings 
which often are the outgrowth of a thing so small 
you’ll be surprised at the simplicity with which you 
can be rid of them. 

If you will try the health rules I shall give you for 
a month, you will find at the end of that time that your 
eyes are brighter, and you will be getting more out of 
life than you ever have. 

If you feel you cannot begin any set of exercises 
all at once, try beginning with the hasty motions out¬ 
lined for the busy girl which I shall give you. After 
these you will gradually begin to add more until you 
loosen up by degrees. Remember that your exercises 
should be pleasant and you should always feel that you 
could do a little more. They should never tire you 
out. 

You may be one of the women who, instead of 
taking more rest, should seek greater activity, find more 
work and seek increased stimulus. Fat sometimes 
claims these women and they find themselves helpless 
in its clutches. 



Page Twenty 


Book One 


The average woman though, needs more rest. Maybe 
not longer hours of sleep at night, but a period each 
day in which to relax and restore the body above the 
point where we begin to live on our nerve. That may 
not mean that her general health is poor, but she should 
learn the scientific art of taking rest through the day 
and never getting entirely run down. 

You may not be doing actual work in the sense that 
you are “overworking,” but you certainly are doing 
too much, if what little you do tires you out. You do 
not need to set aside a large part of the day in which 
to rest and cultivate this poise of manner and the self 
assurance you will feel because you are at your best. 
Let us stop soldiering on the job so that we never really 
do a thing well or make an effective move. 

How often do you hear people say they have “in¬ 
digestion,” because of some unpleasant sensation in 
the stomach after eating, without knowing in the least, 
or having the faintest idea what causes it or how to 
treat themselves. 

If you will follow the simple rules I shall give you 
for daily eating, you will soon get rid of the murderous 
poisons which flow through the stomach and bowels 
and create the “fidgets” and dozens of other symptoms 
as disturbing. 

It would be a splendid and sensible thing for the 
entire nation if regular fasting days were observed. It 
has been said time and again that we as a nation are 
overfed, but we do not let it worry us seriously, we’ve 
heard it so often it has become a platitude. 



Book One 


Page Twenty-one 


As to Your Body. 

We shall deal at length, later, with questions of the 
feet but a foreword will serve as a reminder the next 
time you purchase a pair of shoes. Present day fash¬ 
ions favor fairly large feet, but there are still women 
who take pride in having feet smaller than good pro¬ 
portions for their height and weight require. They are 
still horning on shoes a trifle too small for them. But 
in so doing, they defeat themselves, for the constriction 
of the foot causes it to thicken and not only the ankle 
but the whole foot becomes chubby. 

You cannot make your foot smaller than it is. It is 
terribly old style to try to. Even the Chinese are 
giving up foot binding as a bad job. 

Be perfectly frank and independent about the size 
of your foot. If 6 or 7 D is your size, walk into a 
shoe store and ASK for a 7 D. It is your size and 
probably accords well with your general physique. 
It’s nature again, my dear, and you can’t thwart her 
long without regretting it. 

If we could only learn not to tamper with our body 
proportions. 

If you knew a little about architecture, you would 
see that every column, every base, every wing, must be 
of adequate size and thickness and heaviness to be a 
perfect support for what depends upon it or adjoins it. 
If this is not true, then the temple, or the palace, or 
cathedral, or farm house, is not, by any real standard, 
beautiful. 

It is exactly so with your body. Here, also, the 



Page Twenty-two 


Book One 


principle of support and of proper function, is the 
criterion of beautiful body proportions. 

Are you rather fat and heavy? 

As the years go by do you get a little larger shoe to 
take care of your increasing fat and weight, or do you 
pride yourself on the fact that no matter how heavy 
you get, you are still wearing the same size shoe as 
you did ten years ago? 

You will make them thick, and the first thing you 
know you will be toddling, or swaying from side to side 
when you walk. You will not be able to spring forward 
with each step, and unless you have a good balance 
you cannot have a proper control over the rest of your 
body. 

Keep your whole body in proportion: but in any case, 
let your feet be themselves. 

Not all “sensible” shoes are ugly. There are many 
of them made on stylish lines and in good materials 
which always look in good taste. 

You have been advised against high heels so con¬ 
stantly, and seen the whole world go right on wearing 
them, maybe you are not much inclined to listen to 
my warnings, but all authorities on health and beauty, 
agree that it is silly to wear high heels continuously. 

Of course you want beautiful shoes; get them. But 
have those which fit your feet so they will be kept 
strong and healthy. 

I hope, my dears, that I am not talking to one of 
the girls I’ve seen on the street wearing chiffon hose 
in cold weather. 



Book One 


Page Twenty-three 


Do you' think they’re pretty ? 

I’m afraid other people do not, and they laugh at 
your foolish mistake. Nobody admires the girl or 
woman who shows so little judgment or regard for 
her health. 

The very heavy woolen stockings we are wearing 
just now, to take the place of high shoes and long 
underwear, may seem too heavy after you get indoors 
or at the office, but there are silk and wool mixtures 
and lighter weight wool, which you will be able to 
stand comfortably. 

And remember, we cannot be vivacious or talk our 
best with tired, aching feet. Feet make wrinkles too, 
my dears. The face tells the story of the too tight 
shoe, so do not try to deceive yourself or others either, 
by wearing them too small. 

As to Your Clothes. 

Every woman, at some time, hates something about 
herself. At times when things go wrong, and she 
faces herself in the mirror, she is apt to accuse some 
personal defect or collection of defects, for her “luck.” 
She may even feel that had she been born more 
beautiful, fortune would have smiled on her without 
so much struggle. 

And even as we curse the cruel fates that made us 
thus, we can bring to mind women we have met who, 
considered from the standpoint of physical regularity 
and perfection, had been no kindlier treated by the gods 
of beauty than ourselves. The incident is likely to end 



Page Twenty-four 


Book One 


in tears. Everything about ourselves not following 
strictly the Greek or Roman standard of beauty will 
be hauled up for inspection. 

Dry your tears, dears, crying makes red lids and 
weakens sight and causes dark circles. See? It adds 
three things to the list of hatefuls, in addition to those 
we already have. None of us are so homely but that 
adding three things makes it worse. 

Not only is it useless and makes bad matters worse, 
but you can, by the cultivation of charm in clothes 
and manner, make those who see you and talk to you, 
lose sight of whatever defects you, yourself, are aware 
of. 

There is a beautiful woman I know, whose teeth pro¬ 
trude slightly. You never would have noticed it while 
talking to her because of her wonderful smile and 
charming personality. A compliment on her beauty 
brought a protest from her. “Not with these protrud¬ 
ing teeth,” she said. Of course she immediately called 
attention to a thing which had probably caused her 
many hours of grief and discontent. It was a reality 
to her, but I daresay few others were aware of it on 
account of her poise, graciousness, friendliness, dignity 
and graceful bearing. Each and all of which CAN be 
acquired. 

The wise little girl who realizes how many things 
she has to smile away, takes account of every one ot 
them and does what she can to offset them. 

The woman with protruding teeth will take a little 
better care of them than the woman whose teeth 



Book One 


Page Twenty-five 


barely show when she smiles. The woman aware of 
her good and bad points, plays up the good ones. 

A girl I knew who had studied her face and knew 
that her left cheek was prettier than her right because 
of a few acne scars, always contrived, in some way, to 
turn her prettier cheek toward the person she was 
talking to. 

“But,” you say, “I cannot always be thinking about 
my looks.” No. Nor should I wish you to. Sitting 
or dressing to one’s own advantage, becomes second 
nature, and requires little, if any, waste of time. 

Resolve at once you’ve had your last cry over any¬ 
thing so absurd—there will be plenty of greater things 
happen to you which you can’t help and which you’ll 
have to bear. 

The wise little girl begins right here to fool the 
most of the people the most of the time. She knows 
there are ways she can dress her points so her worse 
ones won’t show. Only those who are close to her at 
home, will know she has such defects, and they love 
her too much to think about them. 

Even if it’s one of the most commonplace things, 
like a too short neck, she learns that there are outlines 
that will make it seem longer. 

If it’s a bust that is too high, she can wear a proper 
brassiere, until by her exercises, it begins to be as she 
wants it. If she has started out with a little vim and 
determination, she knows that when the bust is reduced 
and her exercises give her better lines, the high bust 
can be turned to advantage. 



Page Twenty-six 


Book One 


Charm Plus Appearance Equals Personality 

It’s a sort of mathematical proposition like two and 
two equals four, and just as you cannot dispute your 
arithmetic, neither can you doubt this human equation. 
Many of the things I shall tell you to do may be en¬ 
tirely off from your way of thinking. You may dis¬ 
agree with me. If you do, it may be the reason you 
have not been a more forceful figure among people you 
have known. If you are satisfied with yourself, of 
course you won’t want to be told to change. The very 
fact that you ARE satisfied, encourages me to try to 
help you. Those who have reached the greatest heights 
were never known to be satisfied with themselves. It 
is unrest and the ambition to go on, that has made them 
powerful. These are the principles that keep us doing 
the little things—the big ones then come naturally. 

Charm means becoming an entity, a person of 
character, an individual who stands out. When you have 
it, whatever else you want is easier to get. 

The very root of personality or of charm is the 
ability to have and to convey to other people the sense 
of reserve power within yourself. If you have real 
personality or charm, you fulfill this test, you are able 
to make people feel that in any condition or circum¬ 
stance you are yourself, an independent being with 
mental and spiritual resources of your own. 

Education Not Enough. 

Do not make the mistake of thinking you can become 
charming by merely learning things. 



Book One 


Page Twenty-seven 


If that were true then the most charming people 
would be those who have accumulated the most learn¬ 
ing and we both know that is not true. 

If you had a deficient education, for instance, and 
went to work before you finished High School, in order 
to help with the family earnings, do not be discouraged. 

Many people with college educations, and some with 
several degrees, have no charm whatever. They have 
accumulated a great deal of education perhaps. If they 
lack or have lost their alert curiosity, or that activity 
of mind and vivid interest in things about them, they 
are worse handicapped than you with a deficient edu¬ 
cation agid these qualities. You can accumulate this 
experience and information if you never saw the inside 
of a college. No matter where you are, your mind 
can be active at any age or under any condition. It 
is squarely up to you. 

Now dears, I see the advantage of all this in your 
progress in life, and am offering it to you because I 
know it is good. When you have tried other prescrip¬ 
tions given in this course, you will find they will do 
exactly what I say they will do. Keep faith with me 
in these little mental and spiritual formulas, and reap 
the biggest benefit of all—CHARM. 

Learn all you can always, but so far as charm is 
concerned, it does not matter how many languages you 
can speak, or how well you can do sums, or how many 
statistics you can remember of crops or climate, or the 
depth of the ocean or the height of the hills. 

Learning only acts as a sinker to women who think 



Page Twenty-eight 


Book One 


that learning is an end in itself. It is only a means 
to an end; the end of making you alert and interested, 
of making you able to enter into the interests of others, 
of making you an openminded, intelligent person, 
whose knowledge gives her human comprehension and 
divine wisdom. 

Money Will Not Do It. 

You have probably felt many times that if you had 
money and position, nothing else mattered. 

You may have felt awkward and ill at ease in the 
company of people who were in better circumstances, 
possibly you imagined they noticed you and criticised 
your less stylish appearance. 

If they paid any attention to you at all, it was more 
likely because of your manners than on account of 
your clothes. They probably wondered at your in¬ 
ability to hold yourself in a way to command respect 
and the self assurance which you would have had if 
you had known the value of poise. 

Charming dress undoubtedly increases charming per¬ 
sonality, but your mental charm is of far greater value. 
If you will have the pride to think of yourself, instead 
of your clothes, you will forget your poverty and not 
allow your appearance to spoil your manners. 

It is not likely any attention will be paid to your 
clothes. Money is no indication of superiority. Look 
about you at any gathering of charming women and 
you will see that many of them are not necessarily 
paragons of fashion. 



Book One 


Page Twenty-nine 


A Contrast. 

Charm is composed of so many ingredients. In the 
books to come I shall show you what each one of them 
is and how to put them together to blend into what you 
wish to become. You wish to become a woman who is 
felt, who is hailed with genuine pleasure when she 
enters a room and is parted with unwillingly. 

One girl passes into a crowded room and is greeted 
with a handshake here, a pat on the shoulder there, 
and a “Will you be able to go with us, Mary?” from 
another; with later a: “You always look so well in 
your clothes, where do you buy them?” as she passes 
into the cloak room. 

Another girl, Anna, enters the same room, passes 
to the cloak room with only a nod or a smile or two 
from those she actually runs over on her way. When 
she has put off her things, she looks about her to see 
where to sit or stand—what group she can wedge 
in on. 

You have seen these two girls every time you’ve 
been in a gathering. You have probably wondered 
why it was, and concluded that the former was better 
dressed, wealthier, or from a better family. Follow 
your observations a little further. You’ll find that 
none of those things has anything to do with it. 

Mary is popular because she is gentle, considerate, 
lively, knows how to play and how to sympathize. Any 
of the servants will tell you she is “a darlin’.” She 
employs her persuasiveness on them no less than on 
people of her own social standing. Hers is a policy 




Page Thirty 


Book One 


of making others happy, of appreciation of the rights 
and feelings of others. 

Mary has studied how to get her own way and how 
to make the people who give it to her happy in the 
giving of it. 

Mary can talk on more than one subject, but she 
knows how to listen, so that those who talk to her feel 
she understands them, if not what they say. It is not 
so necessary that we understand exactly what is in the 
speaker’s mind, if we sympathize with the aim and 
purpose of that speaker, or in other words, with the 
speaker himself. 

Anna is so ambitious to be liked she tries to choose 
the friendships of only those who will further that 
ambition. The servants probably hate her because she 
is imperious with them, has no kind word to spare 
where it will not bring a return from someone above 
her. 

She does not care how much trouble she causes 
those not so high up in the social ladder as herself. 
Consequently, when she is with those people she is 
most anxious to please, she cannot be quite natural, 
she assumes the servile pose toward them that she 
demands from those beneath her—and no matter how 
much money she has, she will never be a popular 
person. 

Charm cannot be affected. It is not a pose. Charm 
is a lover for all humanity. It is not a garment to be 
put on and worn at will when we wish to appear to 
advantage. Like “dressing up” for company, we are 



Book One 


Page Thirty-one 


never at home in our clothes, but appear awkward and 
ill at ease. 

After you have read and followed the rules in Book 
VI, you will fill your reservoirs of charm and be able 
to be as generous with the lowly as with the mighty 
and your manners toward the latter will be more effec¬ 
tive. We shall wear our “company clothes” for the 
man who empties the ashes, no less so than with the 
man who owns a large estate. 

As we go along we shall talk about the laws of 
nature, how it demands that our conduct toward anyone 
whatsoever be sincere, and the utter transparency of 
our acts if we are not. 

I would not have you start out to practice your kind¬ 
ness upon every one you meet, exhausting your 
strength, or continuously discommoding yourself in the 
effort to do something for someone else. That is not 
the idea. Your consideration for others should not 
be unmixed with a certain self respect. In other 
words, I want you to be gracious, kindly, considerate, 
yet holding yourself high in your own esteem and 
thereby in the esteem of others. 

There is a kindly instinct within every heart. Noth¬ 
ing that commands our mercy should be ignored. 
Ambitious Anna, referred to above, anxious to have 
the world believe her better than the object exciting 
her pity, would take no notice of the crippled newsboy. 

In many cases, after this instinct has been choked 
back repeatedly, it may need a lot of coaxing to get it 
back. It is tenderer in youth. If not allowed to take 



Page Thirty-two 


Book One 


root and grow then, it may fade out of our lives 
altogether. 

If we have not stopped to direct the wretch on the 
street, or to steer a blind man through a crowd, be¬ 
cause we felt we could not afford to be seen doing such 
a thing, we need not be surprised that our faces do 
not reflect warmth and invite confidences from those 
we wish would give us their confidence. 

Unstinting praise of others when it is due, is a tonic 
that will do as much to help to overcome self con¬ 
sciousness as any formula ever printed. You cannot 
feel enthusiasm for others without forgetting yourself. 
Practice it, the returns are great, but like all our other 
manners, should be practised with the little brother 
and the folks at home, as freely as with strangers, 
otherwise it’ll be only a pose and lack sincerity; with¬ 
out which we’ve had our trouble for nothing. 

The world is immediately aware of it when we are 
not sincere—it knows it as surely as we ourselves do. 

If you want to make others believe in themselves, 
first you believe in them. 

You’ll have no difficulty in putting it over, if you do. 



Book One 


Page Thirty-three 


DO’S AND DON’TS FOR MARRIED 
WOMEN 

It may sound foolish to give especial advice to 
married women instead of to all women, but the wise¬ 
acres say that half the divorces which this country 
suffers from, begins at the breakfast table. That 
may be true, and yet one-half of the remaining half 
probably have their beginning in the nightly beauty 
treatments which we all resort to and which no man 
can possibly understand any necessity for or sympa¬ 
thize with. 

When he married you he thought you were the pret¬ 
tiest girl in the world. Do not let him know how 
you happen to be that way. 

Isn’t it worth any amount of trouble to keep up 
the old romance days? Suppose it does take a little 
extra time to keep up the illusion, isn’t that better than 
to allow your husband to think he “picked a lemon in 
the garden of love where he thought only peaches 
grew ?” 

If you used rouge before you married, by all means 
keep it up. If you are out of bed a few minutes ear¬ 
lier than he is, have had your bath and “fixed” your 
face, isn’t it worth it, if, when he' kisses you good¬ 
bye, you see the look in his face that he had before 
you married him? 

I know a woman who, year in and year out, uses 
rouge, whose husband thinks her color is natural and 
boasts of her perfect skin. She manages to be out of 




Page Thirty-four 


Book One 


bed in time to be as fresh as a rose before he sees 
her. Of course when she’s ill, that’s another matter- 
He expects her to be pale then. 

She is as particular about her clothing, day and 
night as she was the first week of the honeymoon. 
Needless to say the honeymoon has never set. 

She is modest and keeps her dressing room and 
bath private, unless she is ill. There isn’t anything 
truer than the old adage: “Familiarity breeds con¬ 
tempt,” I would almost say that the remaining one 
fourth of the cause for divorce comes from just this 
too great freedom and carelessness of women. Men 
usually govern their home lives after the fashion set 
for them by their wives. They will respect any pri¬ 
vacy she takes and even if they scoff at it, they ap¬ 
preciate it and oh, my dear, it does help so much to 
keep up the illusion. That’s the biggest ingredient 
of life—the illusion. Show me the person who has 
no illusions about life and I’ll show you the one who 
is not interested in living. 

Don’t greet anyone in the household, not even the 
maid if you can help it, until you have either dressed 
your hair or arranged a dainty cap over it. Bits of 
lace and ribbon at remnant counters place these dainty 
caps within the reach of all and they play a much big¬ 
ger part in your domestic drama than you have ever 
suspected. 

Why ever al\ow the morning paper to come to the 
breakfast table to take the place of the little chatter 
and delightful intimacy which should be present? Out- 




Book One 


Page Thirty-five 


side interests like newspapers in the morning and more 
serious ones in the evenings, do not come unless inter¬ 
est at home has been exhausted. 

Why not try dressing your hair a different way. 
Many women look lovely with "the severity of the 
smooth, neatly plastered down, glistening hair-dress- 
Try it sometime, and before he has tired of it switch 
back to curls and demureness. 

Never seem to be deliberately trying to charm him. 
Just act natural as though you had never dressed 
your hair any other way. Never show any apparent 
effort to do anything. 

Do not cry if he does not notice it the first morn¬ 
ing, though chances are he will. If you have been 
careless for a long time and have allowed him to 
think that home is just a place in which to eat and 
sleep, and you are so late reaching the table he has only 
time to swallow coffee and run—well, I’m sorry to 
say it, my dear, but it’s largely your fault and you’ll 
have to be patient until you quietly and without his 
knowing it, change the rule of that house. The Eng¬ 
lish writer and lecturer, W. L. George, says: “The 
best career for a woman is a man.” Of course a 
man wrote that. A woman might have put it the 
other way around. And indeed why not. That’s 
the obligation the wife takes when she says “yes.” 

If you are selfish, extravagant and demand your own 
way in everything, you will have yourself to thank for 
it when he deserts you for the woman who mothered 
and babied him, considered his needs in the same 



Page Thirty-six * 


Book One 


thought with her own and is able to live within her 
income. 

There are such women you know and regardless 
of the marriage ceremony, a man will sometime find 
one and your woe will be of your own making. 

Don't overdo economy. Keep a budget. Balance 
the expenses of the whole family, but that’s your 
work, don’t make the others feel it’s a strain and bur¬ 
den to your nerves. 

What if you do accumulate money and have a lim¬ 
ousine, if your nerves are wrecked getting it and you 
can’t enjoy it? Better walk all the days of your life 
than lose your health. Nothing else will take its 
place. 

Your husband is just a little boy grown up. Study 
pleasing him as you would a school boy—plan to do 
the things he likes—then immediately let him do some¬ 
thing you like, or make a baby of you. 

The successful wife is a combination mother, sweet¬ 
heart, and (don’t be shocked) lover. He hates rou¬ 
tine. It’s monotony that kills. Don’t be any one thing 
until he tires of it. 

Don’t complain- It does no good. It exhausts your 
.nerves. It makes wrinkles. If you keep it up he’ll 
think of you as being a chronic complainer, no matter 
how beautiful you are. 

Hair curlers without a cap covering them, finger 
shapers, wrinkle straps and chin bands are as great a 
strain on love as a soiled kimona at breakfast. Don’t 
make your bedroom a chamber of horrors. 



Book One 


Page Thirty-seven 


Do your beautifying in private. 

Don’t fuss around and work so much you make 
yourself sick. If you will sum it up at the end of the 
year you’ll see you’ve made a liability of yourself. 
Better hire some things done than be too tired to play 
with your husband when he wants to take you out. 

Don’t go stale. That means don’t let your house 
run you. Better keep abreast of the times even if the 
curtains have to go unlaundered another week. Don’t 
allow yourself to consider your husband ever com¬ 
pletely won. 

Marriage is a responsibility, not an assured income 
for life. 

The following clipping from Vaudeville News is too 
good not to pass on: 

FOR MARRIED WOMEN ONLY 

When you marry him, love him. 

After you marry him, study him. 

If he is honest, humor him. 

If he is generous, appreciate him. 

When he is sad, cheer him. 

When he is quarrelsome, ignore him. 

If he is slothful, spurn him. 

If he is noble, praise him. 

If he is confidential, encourage him. 

If he is secretive, trust him. 

If he is jealous, cure him. 

If he favors society, accompany him. 

When he does you a favor, thank him. 



Page Thirty-eight 


Book One 


When he deserves it, kiss him. 

Let him think how well you understand him, but 
never let him know that you manage him. 

DO’S AND DON’TS FOR SINGLE WOMEN 

Why should you not win the man you want if 
you plant in him the seed of contentment which you, 
with all the strength of your being, mean to culti¬ 
vate? The man who will worship you to the end 
of the chapter should believe you to be: 

The Best Cook in the World 

Yes, my dear, even though it is not economically 
necessary, learn the art of cookery. 

Occasionally, at least, prepare something for your 
man with your own hands. 

It isn’t hard to follow a good cook book until you 
can gradually try new combinations. No matter how 
much money you have, it will delight him and add 
much to your womanliness. 

The Handiest With a Needle 

Make something, if it’s nothing but an undergarment 
or a handerkerchief. 

The knowledge will help you to be better dressed 
yourself and increase your man’s pride in you, no 
matter what your station in life or business occupa¬ 
tion may be. 

The Best Dressed Woman Present 

No matter where he takes her—it’s the man’s right 
to feel proud of her. If you’re going to a dinner or 



Book One 


Page Thirty-nine 


theatre before going home, see to it that you have 
neat collar and cuffs—some dainty accessory which 
you haven’t worn all day. The effect on you will be 
good too—it is refreshing to change a little. But no 
matter how you’re dressed, business or more formal, 
see to it that all the little details which make the 
well groomed woman, all of which I shall give you in 
these lessons, are observed. They take only a few 
minutes and may mean years of happiness later. 

Let me urge you not to become careless after mar¬ 
riage or later in life if you care two hoots about being 
happy—holding a husband—or even having friends. 

Never, never, never, even if you are alone, put your 
hair up on curlers without putting on a becoming cap 
as well. Learn to expect only a pleasing vision from 
your mirror—for your own sake—you’ll have more 
confidence in yourself. 

If you use rouge when you go out, use it at home. 
Do not appear before your friends or family without 
it. The effect when you put it on after they have seen 
you without it, is entirely spoiled, you look freakish 
to them then. The change is too great and you’ll be 
remembered longest the homely way. 

If you wash your face well at night, your skin will 
have it’s breathing time then. But remember the 
very act of applying rouge is to appear to have more 
color, to look lovely. Nobody appreciates the painting 
so much if he has first been shown the colorless 
canvas. 

Don’t powder your nose in public places. Again 



Page Forty 


Book One 


you destroy the very effect you seek. The purpose 
of using cosmetics is to appear to have a lovely com¬ 
plexion. Why daub your face or rouge your lips 
before the very people you wish to impress. 

Whether you should smoke or not is purely a matter 
for you, yourself, to decide. Each year more and 
more young women acquire the habit and certainly 
they have as good right to do it as to drink coffee, 
dance over-much or do anything else which puts an 
extra strain on the heart and nerves. 

It is indisputable that it coarsens the voice and 
gives an expression of worldly wiseness to the eyes. 

No young girl ever looked innocent while puffing a 
cigarette—and men still like innocence, probably, be¬ 
cause, like fine wines, it is becoming increasingly rare. 

An occasional cigarette after dinner cannot work 
much harm, nor will the conventional demi-tasse; and 
yet, the nerves will be quieter and sleep will be sounder 
the night when it is not done. 

Restful sleep means bright eyes. 

It isn’t that we keep ourselves free of habits because 
we are goody-goody, but because by so doing, we may 
Jiang on longer to that very valuable thing, youth. 

Don’t go to bed without cleansing your face, no mat¬ 
ter how tired you are. 

‘'""—Don’t wear loud colors to business. 

Don’t chew gum at home or abroad. 

Don’t cut your cuticle. 

Don’t wear pointed toes or high heels to walk in. 
“High heels, low vitality.” 



Book One 


Page Forty-one 


Don’t stay in a badly ventilated room. 

Don’t breathe through your mouth. 

Don’t ride where you can walk. 

Don’t go long hours without water. 

Don’t wear out the machinery (your body) because 
of a lack of oil (rest). 

Don’t read or work in a poor light. 

Don’t eat candy before breakfast or just before re¬ 
tiring. 

Don’t be a clock watcher. 

Don’t be late to business for your own sake, if you 
have no principle. It gets you flurried and lowers your 
efficiency, makes wrinkles and ruins your digestion. 

Don’t sleep until the last minute. A few years and 
you’ll surely wither if you don’t allow yourself time 
to bathe and take a few deep breaths. 

Don’t swallow food without chewing it. Your 
stomach has no teeth. Improper elimination (consti¬ 
pation), too thin blood, even thin hair, may follow this 
careless habit. 

Don’t be a sluggish thinker—use your brain power. 

Don’t wear much cheap jewelry or any other kind. 
Adornment in business is poor taste. 

And, finally,' my dear, better no perfume than a 
cheap odor or one that conflicts with your other toilet 
preparations. 

Table of Weights for Women 

If your weight is from three to five pounds on either 
side of the table as given there is no reason why you 



Page Forty-two 


Book One 


should worry. Nature does not distribute flesh the 
same every time and you may weigh according to the 
table and still not be in perfect proportion, as for in¬ 
stance the woman with too large hips may have a thin 
chest. In such cases you will want to massage the too 
fat places and build up the thin, but if your weight is 
reasonably within the table, try to be contented and 
turn your mind to making yourself charming and cul¬ 
tivate your personality. 


4 feet, 

10 inches—100 

to 

114 pounds 

4 

a 

11 

a 

—105 

to 

118 

u 

5 

a 


a 

—107 

to 

122 

ii 

5 

a 

1 

a 

—110 

to 

125 

ii 

5 

a 

2 

a 

—115 

to 

130 

ii 

5 

a 

3 

a 

—118 

to 

132 

ii 

5 

ii 

4 

a 

—122 

to 

137 

ii 

5 

a 

5 

a 

—126 

to 

142 

ii 

5 

“ 

6 

ii 

—130 

to 

148 

ii 

5 

ii 

7 

ii 

—135 

to 

150 

ii 

5 

a 

8 

a 

—140 

to 

157 

ii 

5 

ii 

9 

u 

—145 

to 

160 

“ 4 

5 

a 

10 

(( 

—150 

to 

172 

“ 


Not all bony structures are the same for the same 
heights and certainly very good proportions and splen¬ 
did figures are possible if there is a little variation in 
these weights as given. 



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